Let them eat pie

Ummmm, pie.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

Coconut cream. French apple. Peanut butter. Chocolate chess. To leaf through Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies is to salivate. Sating such desires used to require a 30-minute or so jaunt over to Staunton to Mrs. Rowe's Restaurant and Bakery. The new book by Mollie Cox Bryan lets those so inclined create Mrs. Rowe's confections at home.

Released June 1, the Little Book of Southern Pies has already made a New York Times list of cookbooks to watch, and on June 8, was reviewed by Publishers Weekly.

Bookworks in Staunton is holding a special event for the release of the book on Saturday, June 27 11am to 1 pm. 101 West Beverley Street , Staunton, Va. 540-887-0007.

Mrs. Rowe's restaurants make about 60 pies a day, says Waynesboro resident Bryan, who wrote Mrs. Rowe's Restaurant Cookbook in 2006. In the new book, published by Ten Speed Press, she assembles more than 50 pie recipes from the Pie Lady, the late Mildred Rowe. Detailed directions make pie-making look easy.

But for some of us, the crust is the most intimidating part of the pie process. "If crust is what's stopping you from making pie," advises Bryan, "use a frozen one."